Global Leaders Issue Declaration to End Child Hunger

Flickr image by orionlee

More than 350 high-level government officials, leaders of civil society organizations, and activists from around the world will convene in Washington, DC, on June 13 to build political momentum for nutrition efforts that will help save the lives of at least 1 million children annually.

Malnutrition during the 1,000 days from pregnancy to age 2 causes irreversible physical and mental stunting in one of three children worldwide. An estimated 3.5 million children die from related causes every year.  

To address this, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and then-Irish Foreign Minister Micheál Martin launched the 1,000 Days partnership at the U.N. Millennium Development Goals Summit in September 2010. The partnership now includes more than 100 leaders and experts who aim to rally resources and political commitments to end child malnutrition.  

“The U.S. government is proud to join partner nations and organizations to combat undernutrition through the 1,000 days partnership. An investment in nutrition is not just for those who need it today.  It is an investment in the future—towards a world in which healthy children grow up to be stronger men and women,” said Maria Otero, U.S. under secretary of state for democracy and global affairs. 

1,000 Days supports the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) framework and action plan. Written and endorsed by dozens of international organizations, SUN outlines plans to end child malnutrition in more than a dozen countries with the highest levels of hunger and food insecurity.  

“We are fully committed to assisting countries as they scale up nutrition,” said Rajiv Shah, administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development. “It is one of our top development priorities and central to our implementation of the president’s Feed the Future and Global Health Initiatives. In Tanzania and Uganda, two Feed the Future focus countries, we have tripled our funding to scale up nutrition and embraced a multi-sector approach that connects agriculture with health and focuses on the 1,000-day window.” 

Read More

Photo Credit